PLANNING AND EVALUATION Planning and Evaluation is a critical component of a complex program such as this tripartite partnership between MSM, TU and the UABCCC. Planning and evaluation has been an integral part of the current Partnership between our institutions under the U56 and P20 mechanism. However, some modifications in the planning and evaluation process have been made to meet the needs of the U54 Partnership and are outlined/described in this section. a. Internal Activities Planning and evaluation is the ultimate responsibility of the Pis from each partner institution and will be carried out administratively with the advice, guidance and direction of the Partnership Internal Advisory Committee (IAC) and the Program Steering Committee (PSC). These latter two groups will provide planning and evaluation for the overall Partnership activities that are designed to achieve the goals and objectives of the Partnership as stated in Section 1.1. The IAC will be supported at the institutional level by the Executive Committees of UAB, MSM and TU respectively. As noted in the Administrative Core, Section I.6., these committees are responsible for oversight of the Partnership's activities at the institutional level and are composed of the same individuals that make up the IAC. The Partnership IAC will meet monthly via teleconference and at least quarterly face-to-face. We have used this meeting frequency (teleconference/face-to-face) with success over the past six and a half years under the U56/P20/U54 mechanisms. Videoconference capability is in place between MSM, TU and the UABCCC. Videoconferencing of IAC meetings will be implemented in place of teleconference when possible. We still intend to have quarterly face-to-face meetings. Internal planning is the responsibility of the Administrative Core through the institutional Executive Committees and the Partnership IAC and is thus described in the Administrative Core, Section 1.6. b. External Activities Program Steering Committee The PSC will serve as the external review and evaluation component of the Partnership's Planning and Evaluation Core. New members of the PSC for the U54 resubmission were nominated by investigators from within the existing Partnership. The nominations were based on the expertise that each could bring to the project. We have elected to retain five members of our U56/P20 Program Committee. These individuals have been a valuable resource to the Partnership and have served faithfully in this role. Each has agreed to continue. In addition, we have added four new members who were nominated by investigators and leaders in the U54 application (see below). These new members were carefully chosen in order to fill identified gaps in expertise on our PSC. We now have a diverse group that will allow an evaluation from many different perspectives and still retain the "corporate history" of the U56/P20 by having five members from the previous Partnerships (U56/P20) continue. The PSC is comprised of basic, clinical and cancer prevention and control scientists and includes expertise in research, training and career development, bioethics, education and administration.